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Driven to Drink in 4000 B.C!

        In a recent article I see that archaeologists have discovered what they consider to be the world’s oldest wine making operation. In a cave in what is now southern Armenia, the team found evidence of a complete wine production facility, with its press, fermentation vats and storage jars in situ dating back 6,000 years.  http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/11/archaeologists-unearth-the-worlds-oldest-wine-press/#ixzz1Aq65jqCh

        Guess that just proves that the world drives one to drink no matter when one lives. In fact, times may have been a lot tougher back in 4000 B.C.  Back then, one had to deal with stresses like where to locate the garbage dump (NIMC – not in my cave), the annual mastodon migrations (no, I will not clean up after the elephants parade by), global warming caused by methane pollution (what is that smell after the elephants parade by?), and population overcrowding (No, your mother may not move in with us! This cave isn’t big enough for both of us!)

       So, even cavemen (and women) were driven to drown their sorrows and troubles in the elixir of wine. Of course, the wine making process was a little different back then. Since the average life span of a caveperson was probably around 25 years, it made it difficult to let a nice bordeaux age for 50 years before popping the cork. In fact, based on the scribbles on the clay pots found by the archaeologists, it appears that vintages were labeled based on months.

      This time factor also seems to relate to the ratings the wines were given by the wine experts of the day. As best as the scientists can determine, the wines were ranked primarily based on age, with a ‘five-moon’ wine ranking higher than a ‘one-moon’ wine.

      Well, anyway, it appears that the final problem that the ancient vintner faced was choosing the proper wine to go with a meal. Does anyone know whether we should serve white wine or red wine with Giant Sloth?

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